My Polish pullets, Calista Flockheart and Ally McBeak, were the first to explore the standard feeder as the bigger birds looked on curiously. Update about my neighbour's GF is that it has started to stick open - probably because of dirt and/or feed and/or corrosion affecting the hinges so beware of that after a while (she's had it about 12 - 18 months) Make sure you keep it clean around the moving parts! I'm already wondering if there is some way of affixing a rubber strip to the lid to deaden the clanging sound?

It has solved two big problems I was having - 1) wild birds getting into their feed and spoiling it, 2) rain/snow getting feed wet and spoiling it. According to the online reviews the feeder leaks when it rains, probably because of the inadequate overhang of the lid on the corners. New feeder-“Grandpa’s Feeders” - Raising Chickens The Hen Blog - best feeder chicken feeder chickens feeders galvanized feeder Grandpas Feeders how to teach hens to use feeder keeps birds from eating chicken feed keeps rats from eating food live hencam live webcam - Backyard Hencam backyardhencam. Speaking with Richard at Grandpa’s feeders he said some people have set up their feeder and wondered what the bolts were for as their birds have taken to it so quickly!It also makes sure the top can't blow off and leave grain exposed to either rodents, wild birds or rain – all sure ways to bring disease to the chicken house.

One house has a Grandpa’s Feeder that feeds 6 hens, 6 bantams, and 4-6 pheasants, yes the pheasants have learnt to open the feeder. As soon as I attempted to have even a slight movement introduced it was as if the end of the world had come. The feeder does nicely with this concern, and it helps that I don’t have a lot of critters to protect from. Grandpa’s Feeders were developed in New Zealand in 1995, after years of frustration of losing valuable food to sparrows, rats, and mice. There is a training period that allows the birds to become accustomed to the operation of the feeder, but it requires no effort on the part of the chicken-keeper.I just keep my feed in a trough inside the Omlet run which is shut at night so only little beasties can get at it. We got a flood of mice after a record wet summer, and we could not fight them with the methods that previously worked. I have 10 hens and it took exactly one day for them to figure out how to step on the treadle to get to the food tray. I installed the Automatic Chicken Feeder in the training mode being sure to close it each night and open it in the morning. I’ve never had an issue with any feed being spoiled by water ingress and man do we have some rain where we live!

Initially, your poultry needs to become used to the feeder and this is very simple, requiring only the positioning of two bolts (provided). A thin sheet metal strip like this would be fine if it was under tension but under compression it is going to flex and snap or allow the door to bind.

Grandpa’s Poultry feeders have a cantilevered lid over the feed trough that lifts to expose the feed when a chicken steps onto the attached platform and closes when the chicken steps off it. The galvanized “ Grandpas feeder” metal feeder has a metal plate on which the hens must stand to open the lid. I'm really pleased actually, as I am going away on Sunday for a couple of nights and now I don't have to ask my neighbour to set the feeder every morning when she opens up. That’s great for us as we have a busy farm [the chickens are just our pets by the way we aren’t a commercial homestead or small holding.

The hens were pretty wary of it on Monday (especially big bum Bella who is a wuss) but hunger got the better of them and they were hopping on and off the treadle (cautiously) quite quicky. A simple 1/2″ horizontal lip bent on the front part would have eliminated the need for the wire grid for the vast majority of birds. I do however still have it in the open position after 4 weeks because the motion freaked my chickens out so bad they wouldn’t come out of their house😏 Not too worried about birds or rodents in their enclosed yard.The lid that covers the eating area until the chicken stands on the treadle has always been a bit temperamental, getting jammed every so often for no reason I can see! I got the benefits in terms of the money saved by keeping rats out the coop and run, those benefits I’m still enjoying now.